Around Witteveen the Booklet ‘Rondom Witteveen’ Tells the Story of the Village of Witteveen
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
01-03-2013 English supplement Dorpsommetje “Rondom Witteveen” Around Witteveen The booklet ‘Rondom Witteveen’ tells the story of the village of Witteveen. It contains a map of a hiking trail of 4,5 kilometres which brings you to all the places of interest in and around Witteveen. The letters of the paragraphs correspond with the letters in the map. The map at the back of the front page is from around 1900. On it you can see that in 1900 the village of Witteveen did not exist yet. The landscape was characterised by peat bog and moorland. The wet areas were drained as good as possible by ditches to make small scale farming of buckwheat and the digging of peat possible. All the roads were unpaved. Characteristic of those times is that Drenthe was bare with only very few forests. One was actually able to see the bell tower of the village 20 kilometres away. On the left of the map the farmers villages of Mantinge, Garminge and Balinge are shown. On these higher and dryer grounds it had been possible to make farming possible on a larger scale since the time the first hunter gatherers settled down and found villages. The old arable fields called “essen” are shown in white on the map. A. The history of Witteveen An new village was found So Witteveen is not a regular Dutch village? No, in fact it is the youngest village of the province of Drenthe. And it is not organically grown. The village of Witteveen is designed at the drawing table and founded in 1926. To begin with about 50 cottages were build. As you can still see today these cottages for the working class are all identical. Some years later, in 1928 and 1929, a school, a village hall, a bakery and a Dutch reformed church were build. And even a green pleasure ground with trees for recreational purposes. Because, as you can see on the map from the 1900’s, the landscape was open and bare in 1626. The first inhabitants of Witteveen started to dig peat and irrigate the land to make arable farming possible. Soon the first farms could be build. Peat workers But why did the Dutch government build a complete new village? At the beginning of the 20 th century peat was the most important fuel in the Netherlands, because of the stagnation of the importation of German, English and American coal due to the First World War. Large moors were found in the east of the Province of Drenthe near the city of Emmen. So unemployed people from all over the country proofed their luck and moved to Emmen to find a job in cutting and harvesting peat. Soon the municipality of Emmen became overcrowded. Newcomers were forced to build temporary ‘houses’ from mainly peat blocks with sometimes some wood and roof tiles. The so-called “plaggenhutten” – huts of turf or sods. Then, in 1918 the transport of coal started going again. The demand of peat dropped and with that also did the wages. Most people got unemployed. As a solution the government gave families with young children financial support. Secondly employment was created: projects like the digging of canals were developed in Emmen. The digging of the canals was all done by hand, not that there were no machines available, but just because in this way as many men as possible could be set to work. The third solution was to stimulate people to move away from Emmen (“ to get rid of the excess of people ” as was stated in the reports of the municipality). Between 1924 and 1936 many people were helped to move to the textile industry of Twente (7906 people), the mines in Limburg (2803 people) or to the factories of Philips in Eindhoven (2198 people). And 331 people went to the new-to-build village of Witteveen. 1. Start at the sign on the parking lot. With the sign on your left-hand, walk to the end of the parking lot. 2. At the end of the parking lot turn left onto the tarmac road. The tarmac road turns into an unpaved road in a few metres. NB: for a shorter hike (2 km) turn right from the parking lot onto the tarmac road an cross the road. From here you can go to point 18. 1 01-03-2013 English supplement Dorpsommetje “Rondom Witteveen” B. At the playing fields From 1926 onwards the population of Witteveen grew very fast. The families who settled in the village were large and every family was imposed to provide accommodation for up to four labourers. To make sure people had something to do in their spare time; many associations for recreational purposes were found. Today Witteveen has about 600 inhabitants and still the community stands out for their large number of associations. Thanks to the headmaster of the school in 1928 a rich tradition in playing soccer was founded. The scale of the sports accommodation today with its playing fields shows that Witteveen has become a regional sports centre. In 1998 a new canteen was build, thanks to the work of many volunteers. 3. At the end of this path turn right. Follow the path through the small stretch of trees. 4. In the forest you will get at a three-forked-road; turn right. At the next three-forked-road turn left. 5. At the crossroads straight on. 6. At the next three-forked-road turn left towards the forest lake. C. Forestry and the forest lake Remember that, when Witteveen was build, the landscape around you was just peat bog and moorland. On the lower, wetter parts grew large fields of cotton grass (Eriophorum angustifolium) which gave Witteveen its name: Witte=white and veen=peat or turf. Almost everywhere the peat bog and moorland was reclaimed for agriculture. Where the soil was not suitable for growing crops, forest was planted. The straight and strong stems of deciduous coniferous trees like larix were highly asked for to use in the mines of Limburg. Birch, oak and mountain ash were planted in between the larix trees, to ‘force’ them to grow up to the light en become long and straight. During a severe storm in 1972 a large area of the planting from the 1930’s was destroyed. Today only little wood is felled for economic reasons. Maintenance is based on nature preservation standards and the forest is mainly used for recreational purposes. The lake you will find in the forest is an artificial lake. It was dug to gain sand for the building of the highway just north from here. Yet, interesting flora and fauna has developed in and surrounding the lake thanks to a layer of calcareous boulder clay that has come to the surface due to the groundwork. 7. At the crossroads (in front of the forest lake) turn right, along a deep ditch. 8. At the first forest path turn left. 9. At the first crossroads straight on and at the second crossroads turn right. D. Earth’s magnetic field station In 1938 the Royal Netherlands Metrological Institute (KNMI) decided to replace their earth’s magnetic field research station from De Bilt near Utrecht in the centre of the Netherlands to Witteveen. The sensitive equipment which is used to measure the earth’ magnetic field and gauge compasses needed a place where it would not be disturbed by heavy traffic, railways and power lines like in the centre of the Netherlands. Today the field station is used for seismological research and environmental research on quality of the air. Also the lichens on the tree stems around you show that the air quality in the Province of Drenthe is quite good. In autumn the forest turns yellow, red and orange. Many different species of fungi appear on the forest floor. 10. At the three-forked-road turn right. 11. Cross the tarmac road and take the forest path on the other side; straight on. You pass the cemetery, which is worth a visit. 2 01-03-2013 English supplement Dorpsommetje “Rondom Witteveen” E. Cemetery The cemetery dates from 1937. The gravestones from these early days are recognised by a Weeping Willow; the symbol for death and mourning. The small building was used to keep the deceased. It was and is obligatory to keep the body above the ground for at least 36 hours to make sure no mistakes are made. Through the large doors the hearse could enter the building. Since 2005 it is possible to get a natural burial on the cemetery of Witteveen. In this case no headstones are used and the burial monuments are part of the natural environment. Nature is undisturbed. Sir Relus ter Beek, commissioner of the Queen of the Province of Drenthe is buried in the natural cemetery of Witteveen on his special request, because he was very charmed by this concept and the beauty of Witteveen’s natural cemetery. 12. At the three-forked-road turn right until you pass a deep ditch. 13. At the deep ditch turn left, following the small path along the ditch. At the high seat turn right along the field until you reach the main tarmac road (Kerkweg). 14. At the tarmac road (Kerkweg) turn right. F. Farms The farm “De Hendrikahoeve” dates from 1927. Its architecture is characteristic for the farms build by the architects of the Dutch government during the early 1900’s. The premises for the family are in the same building as the barn or build in front of the barn (head – body architecture).